January 14, 2008

EBAY FRAUDSTER SENTENCED IN FEDERAL COURT

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Jenny Donahue, A/K/A Jenny Bryant, age 28, of Williamstown and Northfield, Vermont, was sentenced on January 10, 2008 on her federal fraud conviction for operating an eBay scam during most of 2004.

Donahue pleaded guilty to selling a multitude of fake "designer" accessories, primary handbags, to victims nationwide on eBay by listing them as authentic. For example, in the Spring of 2004, Donahue sold fake Hermes handbags to a California woman for $4,100, a New York woman for $1,050, and a Texas woman for $2,250. She represented to the buyers that the bags were authentic. She refused to refund the money when the buyers received the fake items and protested. In late 2004 the Vermont State Police executed a search warrant at Donahue's Williamstown home. When the scope of the fraud became apparent, Federal authorities adopted the case. The investigation revealed that Donahue had used over a dozen different eBay user identities and email addresses. Donahue pleaded guilty in June, 2007.

At sentencing in Brattleboro before Federal Judge J. Garvan Murtha this week, the government introduced evidence of over 250 fraud victims, out of a total of 632 eBay auctions, with over $100,000 in loss. The government urged the court to impose a sentence of 41 months imprisonment. Based upon Judge Murtha's legal conclusions, the advisory sentencing guideline range was 27 - 33 months. He then found that because Donahue had minor children, she should not be imprisoned. He found that the children were an "extraordinary circumstance" warranting a downward departure from that range. He reduced the sentence to no imprisonment, imposing instead five years of probation, 100 hours community service and restitution.

The case was investigated by the Middlesex Barracks of the Vermont State Police, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Secret Service. Donahue was represented by Elizabeth D. Mann, Esq.